1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector, and particularly to a connector having improved retention devices for securely retaining the connector onto a printed circuit board.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrical connectors are usually mounted onto a printed circuit board before engaging with mating electronic components. The contacts of the connector are mounted to conductive trails on the printed circuit board by solders via through hole or surface mount technology (SMT) approaches. When the connector mates with a mating connector, the contacts suffer a large force at connections of the contacts and the conductive trails, which may destroy the connections. In order to avoid such condition to happen, retention means are applied to the housing. The retention means are fastened to an insulative housing of the connector and have a portion mountable on the printed circuit board by solder balls via through hole or SMT approaches. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,386 discloses a connector mounted onto a printed circuit board by a pair of L-shaped retention means. The connector has an insulative housing defining a mating port and contact receiving slots therein and a pair of slits at opposite portions thereof. However, the contact receiving slots and the slits of the housing extend in crossed or perpendicular directions, which may complicate the manufacture of the connector. U.S. Pat. No. 6,024,602 discloses another connector retained to a printed circuit board by a pair of retention means. Each retention means includes a body portion and a flange laterally extending from the body portion and a pair of locking legs downwardly extending from the body portion. The housing defines two slits at opposite sides thereof for receiving respective retaining means. U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,802 again discloses a connector including an insulative housing and a clip retained to a block at each of two opposite side faces thereof. Each clip has a pair of spring legs clipping opposite side faces of the corresponding block thereby retaining the clip to the block. The above mentioned three patents each disclose solutions of retaining the connectors to printed circuit boards. However, such solutions still have some disadvantages. The present invention is aimed to provide an improved electrical connector to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector having improved retention devices for securely fastening the electrical connector onto a printed circuit board.
To obtain the above object, an electrical connector includes an insulative housing retaining a number of contacts in the housing and a pair of fasteners retained to opposite sides of the housing. The housing defines a pair of recesses at conjunction of corresponding side faces of the housing and a mounting surface. Each recess includes a first peripheral wall parallel with and adjacent to a mating surface of the housing. The housing provides a pair of cantilever beams each extending rearwardly from a corresponding first peripheral wall in a corresponding recess. The fasteners are securely received in corresponding recesses and urged by corresponding cantilever beams. The first peripheral wall defines a slot therein fixedly receiving an interference section of the fastener therein. Thus, the fasteners are reliably retained to the housing.
In a detail of the invention, each fastener includes a body portion and a flange and a mounting tab laterally extending from upper and lower edges of the body portion and the interference section at a front thereof. The flange and the mounting tab respectively urge the top edge and a lower edge of the cantilever beam thereby clamping the cantilever beam. The mounting tab has a mounting face parallel with the mounting surface of the insulative housing.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.